miami transit mismanagement (Miami Beach: transfer, live, buses)

[AJGIANTS]

Here is an article that discusses in part how urban areas, such as Portland are upgrading transportation systems because people are moving back into the cities.
How far behind is South Florida with this concept?

Suburbs-a-Mile-Too-Far-for-Some: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by AJGIANTS

Here is an article that discusses in part how urban areas, such as Portland are upgrading transportation systems because people are moving back into the cities.
How far behind is South Florida with this concept?

Suburbs-a-Mile-Too-Far-for-Some: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

ummm far. People still live out in the 'Burbs and while Fort Lauderdale and Miami have made SOME headway in getting people closer into the city core it still has a LONG way to go. because of the massive amount of sprawl down here it is really tough to do a proper mass transit system. That is what one of the city planners from the city of hollywood told my wife.

Also on a side note. We are going into one of the worst economic downturns America has seen. Unemployment in S. Florida is HIGH so how many people will really be able to move into downtown truthfully? We are WAY behind in comparison to some other places.

Out of Broward and Dade, Dade is ahead though.

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by kevinkagy

They should not raise fares, it's high enough for now! What we need to focus on is light rail in Miami. The mayor of Miami Beach is the one responsible for the failing of Baylink which would have connected Downtown to South Beach. He supported it for years and then last minute, changed his mind, and stopped supporting it.

Good news is, they're building the Miami Central Station next to MIA, which is huge. For those who have driven by MIA, you can see the huge building under construction. It's supposed to be finished by 2010/2011 and will house Metorail, Tri-Rail, Amtrak, Metrobus, taxis, rental cars, and the MIA People Mover. That's pretty progressive I think.

why light rail? I mean they already have the freaking metro mover, why not expand that thing instead of spending more money on yet another system. As for the price, its honestly not high enough. If it was, they wouldn't have a problem funding the darn thing. They need a think tank to come here and look at the entire system and figure everything from coverage, technology to cost to maintain and ways to funded it. Then they need to present a thorough and comprehensive plan to the people of Miami on how it needs to be done. Maybe come up with two or three solutions and let the people vote on it.

[TannerMan]

Light Rail is much cheaper and if you read the plans, the streetcar is to connect Downtown with other important and "emerging" neighborhoods while the metro mover stays withing downtown and brickell and is just to get around that area alone.
And they aren't having problems because of low prices, its just pure mismanagment of money, they're thinking about raising the prices because of their mistakes.

[Wild Style]

TannerMan

You should read the letter by Commissioner Javier D. Souto. They are having money problems because the money coming in ISN'T enough. It is the same thing in NYC, it is the same thing in Chicago and on and on and on. Mass Transit is generally heavily subsidized via taxes etc. It should not be misconstrued though, Highways are also heavily subsidized, tax at the pump is NOT enough to maintain road and highways. So just as those who don't drive are heavily subsidized (mass transit) by everyone. So are those who do drive. Anyway, box fairs are generally never enough. Only in some isolated cases like in Brazil for example. So yes, they do need to up the fare. You also have to remember tax revenue is down because of the whole real estate thing so funding is coming up short all around.

After reading what the commissioner had to say, it seems the half cent tax was never going to be able to cover all the new stuff they were planning. They were hoping to for federal and state government to match funds (which they do on a case by case basis). But for various reasons that didn't pan out. So the 1/2 cent tax came up short but, it was enough to cover existing expenses.

I don't know why the Miami Herald, who is doing a series on this who thing hasn't printed that commissioners letter. It is a real eye opener as to what is going on. After reading it, I looked at the situation less as mismanagement (though there is mismanagement at play here) and more as Dade county govt not being honest with the people. They should have told them the half cent tax being appropriate to cover mass transit expansion is contingent upon federal and state government funding. Now that they didn't get the funding and used the money for something else they look like incompetent idiots (well maybe they are?)

As for connecting downtown to "emerging" neighborhoods. Then why not just build out metro rail to connect those areas to downtown. Maybave have a transit hub downtown where you can then transfer to bus or even metro mover. they also need to get better cars on metro mover and start charging for it.

People might complain at first but as long as mass transit is cheaper than driving, I don't see what any intelligent person would have to complain about. Me personally, I would sell my car in a heart beat if I could take the train everywhere I need to go. I mean no more insurance, no more maintenance, whats there not to like?

[TannerMan]

Originally Posted by Wild Style

As for connecting downtown to "emerging" neighborhoods. Then why not just build out metro rail to connect those areas to downtown. Maybave have a transit hub downtown where you can then transfer to bus or even metro mover. they also need to get better cars on metro mover and start charging for it.

Heavy rail is much more expensive, especially to expand it to other areas in the outlying suburbs that sorely need it. The streetcar is less expensive, and its specifically for the emrgence of downtown, and its not even controlled by Miami-Dade transit which runs the Metro-Rail which are the ones in the big fuss. The streetcar is done by the city and would be run by the city not the counties transit system which is the one in charge of expanding metro-rail.

Also, a transit hub is already being built near the airport which will also connect metro-rail to the airport.
And last month I saw on TV that metro mover just got new cars and I think by now they are all in use.

[Wild Style]

Tanner ah ok, thanks for the info!

I though they were building a transit hub downtown too though? Or maybe they have one in overtown or something? Meh, I can't remember

[kevinkagy]

Originally Posted by Wild Style

As for connecting downtown to "emerging" neighborhoods. Then why not just build out metro rail to connect those areas to downtown. Maybave have a transit hub downtown where you can then transfer to bus or even metro mover. they also need to get better cars on metro mover and start charging for it.

People might complain at first but as long as mass transit is cheaper than driving, I don't see what any intelligent person would have to complain about. Me personally, I would sell my car in a heart beat if I could take the train everywhere I need to go. I mean no more insurance, no more maintenance, whats there not to like?

They're already building our central station, the Miami Central Station actually, it's next to MIA and you can see it's progressing nicely. It's going to be the hub of Amtrak, Tri-Rail, Metrorail, MIA people mover, taxis, rental cars and Metrobus. It's huge and very, very progressive for a big city like Miami.

[Wild Style]

Its the grand central station of Miami?

If I remain in South Florida, I really think I will be moving to Miami.

[xS☺B☺s]

Originally Posted by rogerbacon

What about renting it to a private company? As long as they couldn't sell off real assets I don't see the risk in lettign a private company try to turn a profit on it. I doubt htere would be any takers though.

That would be a good litmus test to gauge the real intentions of a private company.... I dunno though. I imagine a private company propping up the rail real nice for two years, everybody gets all warm and fuzzy about how wonderful they are doing, so the it's okay, let's sell it, then it's resold to Exxon for scrap metal and all ya'll are back at the pump now 12 dollars per gallon.